Families get into fall spirit at Country Day at Pardon Gray in Tiverton

The annual Country Day at Pardon Gray is specifically for families to enjoy. Children decorated pumpkins and had their own faces painted. They got to climb into tractors, and stuff scarecrows with straw during the event, which was held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. There was liv...

The annual Country Day at Pardon Gray is specifically for families to enjoy.

Children decorated pumpkins and had their own faces painted. They got to climb into tractors, and stuff scarecrows with straw during the event, which was held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

There was live music, and the day culminated with a “pooch parade,” with man’s best friend getting in on the fun. All of the participants got biscuits, and the winners received monetary prizes, trophies and medals.

This year’s Country Day, hosted by the Tiverton Land Trust, had a first: a live demonstration from firefighters who showed a captive audience how they would go about extricating a trapped passenger or driver from a severely wrecked automobile.

One firefighter sat in the car, a Ford Taurus, as his comrades placed a neck brace around his neck, and proceeded to dismantle it, with hydraulic cutters and snappers. Tiverton Fire Lt. Joe Plocica narrated the process, which took about 6 minutes The reason for the practice is to work out the mechanics, “the easiest and quickest way to get a patient out of the vehicle.”

Plocica said it’s a procedure the department practices “sometimes two times a week.” He said the vehicle was donated by Tiverton Auto Parts.

Mike Keane, of Fall River, said he goes to the event every year with his children. They especially enjoy the tractor rides.

Cheyenne Banville, 14, of Fall River, and her family eagerly awaited the pooch parade, with her 2-year-old St. Bernard, Aidan. He wore a wooden medicine barrel around his neck.